DATE=9/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TIMOR - SANCTIONS CALL (L-O)
NUMBER=2-266490
BYLINE=RON CORBEN
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: East Timor's independence leader, Xanana
Gusmao is pressing international donors to withhold
aid to Indonesia until Jakarta reigns in militia bands
terrorizing East Timor refugees in West Timor. Ron
Corben reports from V-O-A's Southeast Asia Bureau,
that meanwhile East Timor's U-N administrator, Sergio
Vieira de Mello, is to meet Indonesia's security chief
on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
TEXT: Xanana Gusmao is demanding donor countries hold
back vital economic aid to ensure Indonesia reins in
violent militias opposed to East Timor's independence.
In a statement, Mr. Gusmao said pro-Jakarta militia
gangs are still roaming Indonesian-controlled West
Timor with impunity, after the deaths of three U-N
foreign aid workers and three Indonesians last week.
The killings occurred in Atambua, which was the center
of international relief efforts for the 120-thousand
East Timor refugees living in camps. Many in the
camps have been prevented from returning to East Timor
by the militia gangs.
A violent rampage by the militias forced hundreds-of-
thousands of people to flee East Timor after a U-N
sponsored independence vote.
Mr. Gusmao says the world should stop supporting
Indonesia financially until Jakarta - as he put it -
proves its goodwill and determination by dismantling
the terrorist training camps on Indonesian territory
and disarms and arrests all those responsible for the
present violence in West Timor.
/// OPT /// He also called for the World Bank to
postpone a planned mid-October donor meeting of the
Consultative Group of Indonesia. /// END OPT ///
Indonesia is burdened by 135-billion dollars in debt
and is relying on foreign loans to maintain state
services.
Indonesia's chief political and security affairs
minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is to meet in Bali
with U-N officials and East Timorese leaders about the
situation in West Timor.
Earlier this week, the cabinet of Indonesian President
Abdurrahman Wahid rejected a proposed U-N Security
Council mission to Indonesia, saying the mission gave
an impression of foreign intervention. Jakarta
insists it is capable of solving its own problems in
West Timor. (SIGNED)
NEB/HK/RC/JO/RAE
14-Sep-2000 08:21 AM EDT (14-Sep-2000 1221 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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